David Bowie’s drummer did drugs every day—But in 1990s, something turned his life around

May 22, 2018

During his early years, Sterling Campbell, a NYC-based drummer for British rock star David Bowie, lived an unrestrained lifestyle—drinking alcohol and smoking pot every day. He couldn’t break out of the vicious cycle until one day in the 90s, when he stumbled across something precious that completely turned his life around.

Sterling Campbell, born in 1964 in New York City, has been drumming since his childhood days.

“I have been playing drums all my life, since 12 years old. Drumming has become a part of me,” Sterling told NTD.TV.

For years, Sterling tried hard to break these bad habits, but he just couldn’t, until one day in 1998, when he came across an ancient cultivation practice from the East.

That day, Sterling happened to pass by a group of practitioners doing some gentle, slow-moving exercises while walking through Riverside Park in New York City.

He was attracted to the peaceful exercises. He went over to talk to a practitioner, and found out that they were practicing Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa—a self-cultivation practice of mind and body.

“The conversation kept going on. I don’t know why I became interested, it was like an instinctual feeling.”

“I’ve raised my standards as a person—you learn to consider others before yourself. It’s completely about your heart,” said Sterling, in an interview published in the Scottish newspaper Metro, on Nov. 27, 2003. “I give more to David’s music now, I’m more selfless.”

Since then, practicing Falun Gong has become an integral part of his life. Every time he performs on stage, he brings along his special bass drum kit displaying the Chinese characters for “Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance”—the principles of Falun Gong.

“People always want to put on some things. I want to put some positive things on my drum and tell people what kind of person I am,” Sterling said.

Raising awareness during David Bowie’s reality tour

Sterling was part of David Bowie’s last big world tour—the Reality Tour, which commenced on Oct. 7, 2003, at the Forum Copenhagen, Denmark. They traveled to more than 100 cities over nine months.

“It was my personal favorite and the one that will stick with me forever,” Sterling shared. “We laughed a lot.”

At that time, whenever David held a concert, Sterling would arrange a booth for the non-profit group “Friends of Falun Gong” at the entrance.

According to the Falun Dafa Information Center, millions of Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested and detained, ever since the Chinese Communist Party began its brutal persecution to eradicate the practice on July 20, 1999. With an estimated 70 million to 100 million adherents in China, the Chinese Communist Party perceived Falun Gong’s popularity a threat to its authoritarian rule and atheist ideology.

The international community has long been unaware of the CCP’s disinformation campaign to discredit the practice, in addition to the state-sanctioned organ harvesting, which practitioners are targeted for.

In February 2002, Sterling traveled to China to tell the Chinese people that “Falun Dafa is good” with 60 or 70 other Falun Gong practitioners.

“I was encouraged by Falun Gong practitioners in China. They have bravely stepped forward to clarify the truth of Falun Gong to people even in that tough situation. As western practitioners, going to Tiananmen was for drawing more attention to this,” he told Minghui.org.

Sadly, David passed away after succumbing to liver cancer two days after the release of his final album, “Blackstar,” on Jan. 10, 2016.

“David was a genuine person, one of a kind,” Sterling said.

“David let me and all the other musicians be ourselves,” he continued. “He respected my beliefs and wanted everyone involved to express themselves. It was truly an honor to work for David and something I will always cherish.”

Do you know David Bowie? Here's the story of one of his drummers, Sterling Campbell.Learn more: http://www.ntd.tv/2017/07/28/how-to-completely-get-rid-of-drug-addiction-in-2-weeks-sterling-campbell-a-drummers-story/

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